Sam Green

Explores the elemental phenomenon of sound and its power to bend time, cross borders, and profoundly shape our perception of the world around us.

The Universal Language is a new documentary from Academy Award-nominated director Sam Green (The Weather Underground). This 30-minute film traces the history of Esperanto, an artificial language that was created in the late 1800s by a Polish eye doctor who believed that if everyone in the world spoke a common tongue, humanity could overcome racism and war. Fittingly, the word “Esperanto” means “one who hopes.” During the early 20th century, hundreds of thousands of people around the world spoke Esperanto and believed in its ideals. Today, surprisingly, a vibrant Esperanto movement still exists. In this first-ever documentary about Esperanto, Green creates a portrait of the language and those who speak it today that is at once humorous, poignant, stirring, and ultimately hopeful.

The Universal Language is a new documentary from Academy Award-nominated director Sam Green (The Weather Underground). This 30-minute film traces the history of Esperanto, an artificial language that was created in the late 1800s by a Polish eye doctor who believed that if everyone in the world spoke a common tongue, humanity could overcome racism and war. Fittingly, the word “Esperanto” means “one who hopes.” During the early 20th century, hundreds of thousands of people around the world spoke Esperanto and believed in its ideals. Today, surprisingly, a vibrant Esperanto movement still exists. In this first-ever documentary about Esperanto, Green creates a portrait of the language and those who speak it today that is at once humorous, poignant, stirring, and ultimately hopeful.

The Universal Language is a new documentary from Academy Award-nominated director Sam Green (The Weather Underground). This 30-minute film traces the history of Esperanto, an artificial language that was created in the late 1800s by a Polish eye doctor who believed that if everyone in the world spoke a common tongue, humanity could overcome racism and war. Fittingly, the word “Esperanto” means “one who hopes.” During the early 20th century, hundreds of thousands of people around the world spoke Esperanto and believed in its ideals. Today, surprisingly, a vibrant Esperanto movement still exists. In this first-ever documentary about Esperanto, Green creates a portrait of the language and those who speak it today that is at once humorous, poignant, stirring, and ultimately hopeful.

Explores the elemental phenomenon of sound and its power to bend time, cross borders, and profoundly shape our perception of the world around us.

A decade-long global journey chronicles the ever-changing record holders of the title of oldest person alive. What begins as a portrait of longevity becomes a meditation on the passage of time, the randomness of fate, and the joy and profound human experience of being alive.

The remarkable story of The Weather Underground, radical activists of the 1970s, and of radical politics at its best and most disastrous.

The remarkable story of The Weather Underground, radical activists of the 1970s, and of radical politics at its best and most disastrous.

Short doc surrounding Paul Rudd's clear glasses that came to Sam's door from a time when the world was different.

A short documentary portrait of the greatest pet cemetery in the world.

A short documentary portrait of the greatest pet cemetery in the world.

No synopsis available yet.

A documentary look at the 'making of' and cult success of the troubled Lou Adler directed film "Ladies And Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains" starring Diane Lane.

Filmmaker Sam Green, in collaboration with writer and editor Joe Bini, takes the stage with the legendary classical-music group Kronos Quartet to create a "live documentary" that chronologically unfolds the quartet's groundbreaking, continent-spanning, multi-decade career. Wildly creative and experimental in form, A Thousand Thoughts is a meditation on music itself-the act of listening closely to music, the experience of feeling music deeply, and the power that music has to change the world. Green narrates the piece live onstage while the Kronos Quartet performs the score, and a rich blend of archival footage, photos, and interviews with members of the Kronos Quartet – as well as longtime collaborators like Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Terry Riley, Tanya Tagaq, and Steve Reich – unspools on screen.

Filmmaker Sam Green, in collaboration with writer and editor Joe Bini, takes the stage with the legendary classical-music group Kronos Quartet to create a "live documentary" that chronologically unfolds the quartet's groundbreaking, continent-spanning, multi-decade career. Wildly creative and experimental in form, A Thousand Thoughts is a meditation on music itself-the act of listening closely to music, the experience of feeling music deeply, and the power that music has to change the world. Green narrates the piece live onstage while the Kronos Quartet performs the score, and a rich blend of archival footage, photos, and interviews with members of the Kronos Quartet – as well as longtime collaborators like Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Terry Riley, Tanya Tagaq, and Steve Reich – unspools on screen.

Filmmaker Sam Green, in collaboration with writer and editor Joe Bini, takes the stage with the legendary classical-music group Kronos Quartet to create a "live documentary" that chronologically unfolds the quartet's groundbreaking, continent-spanning, multi-decade career. Wildly creative and experimental in form, A Thousand Thoughts is a meditation on music itself-the act of listening closely to music, the experience of feeling music deeply, and the power that music has to change the world. Green narrates the piece live onstage while the Kronos Quartet performs the score, and a rich blend of archival footage, photos, and interviews with members of the Kronos Quartet – as well as longtime collaborators like Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Terry Riley, Tanya Tagaq, and Steve Reich – unspools on screen.

A Cinematic Study of Fog in San Francisco showcases a visually compelling experience of fog and the rich feelings it evokes.

How can a sound make you cry, or make your hair stand on end? Can sound be political?

This Is What the Future Looked Like is a documentary about the work of architect and futurist Buckminster Fuller, using his geodesic domes as the visual environment.

A tour of the world's largest shopping mall, located near Guangzhou, China.

A tour of the world's largest shopping mall, located near Guangzhou, China.

The mystery behind the man who died at Altamont.

Documentarian Sam Green interprets our collective fascination with the Guinness Book of World Records as a profound need to try and make some sense of who we are by calibrating human experience and marveling at its outer contours. Green himself travels to various reaches of the Earth to collect original footage of record-holding people, places, and things-the tallest man, the woman with the longest name, the oldest living thing on the planet. He weaves into these original portraits a rich assembly of archival footage, his own live narration, and an evocative live soundtrack from the chamber group yMusic to create an indelible rumination on fate, human endeavor, and the nature of our existence on Earth.

Opening night of the 1969 San Francisco International Film Festival on the steps of City Hall. A who's who of SF high society is suddenly ambushed by a cadre of independent filmmakers armed with pies.

I’ve been to Las Vegas many times and have always experienced a familiar roller coaster of reactions to the city, from being fascinated and seeing it as a profound expression of grand historical forces and liberatory impulses to just seeing it as a totally fucking depressing place. I don’t think I’ve ever had such strong reactions to a city. This film is an expression of much of that and weaves together several elements: a visual portrait of Las Vegas; informal, verite-ish interviews with a wide range of interesting people we came across while shooting; archival images of the city from the 1950s and 60s; along with some first-person voice-over musings about the city and its history. My hope is that this film does justice to the endlessly fascinating, spectacularly libidinous, and deeply disturbing nature of Las Vegas and its history. —Sam Green